On new ground: Tracing Human–Muskox Reconfigurations in Greenland

This chapter explores the reconfiguration of human–muskox relations in two Greenlandic settings: Ittoqqortoormiit (East Greenland) and Kangerlussuaq (West Greenland). In these places, humans and muskoxen came into contact and were reconfigured in disparate ways – in 1925 in Ittoqqortoormiit, when ca. 70 Iivit were relocated from Tasiilaq 1000 km northwards to the unpopulated Scoresbysound Fjord; and in West Greenland in the 1960s when 27 muskoxen were translocated from Scoresbysound to Kangerlussuaq. Both relocations occurred in response to uncertainties in climatic, geopolitical, and economic environments, which continue to inform many biological and political discussions about the management of muskoxen today and ultimately the question of whether it is climatic changes or over-hunting that poses the greatest risk to the survival of animals. Arguing that muskoxen and humans mutually reconfigure each other’s worlds through worldmaking practices in a multitude of ways, we trace climatic changes and the uncertainties tied to muskoxen and other terrestrial game animals over time and space. Thus, through gaining new insight into climate pasts, presents, and futures in Greenland, a new perspective begins to emerge on how an anthropology of multiple species can be practiced.